Basso wants focus back on racing at Tour of Italy

Alessandro Trovati/Associated PressLance Armstrong (from left), Ivan Basso and Danilo Di Luca talk as they lead the pack during Sunday's ninth stage of the Tour of Italy in Milan.

CUNEO, Italy -- Ivan Basso is ready to concentrate again on racing after a day of protest at the Tour of Italy.
Riders considered the city circuit overly dangerous and their protest annulled Sunday's times. The route through Milan had been designed to honor the city where the Giro was born 100 years ago.
"I think all 200 riders looked at themselves in the mirror last night, and starting tomorrow you're going to see quality racing again," Basso said today, the race's first rest day.

Overall leader Danilo Di Luca and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong organized the protest. Basso, who is riding his first Giro after serving a two-year ban for involvement in the Spanish blood-doping scandal Operation Puerto, followed the pack.

"I was away from the sport for two years and I didn't think it was right that I made the decision," Basso said. "But I think we need to apologize to the fans. I'm coming off a very tough time and I'm trying to do something good for cycling."

Basso won the 2006 Giro and was the pre-race favorite this year. But he is sixth overall through nine stages, 1 minute, 14 seconds behind Di Luca.

Armstrong, regaining his form after 3½ years of retirement and a broken collarbone in March, is 25th. His Astana team was one of six squads that had blood tests today. After a morning ride, the Texan had lunch in his team hotel with five-time Tour and Giro winner Eddy Merckx.

Basso is looking toward Tuesday's 10th leg. The stage is marked by the Cima Coppi (Coppi Peak), which is dedicated to Fausto Coppi, the legendary Italian rider of the 1940s and '50s.

"There are a lot of possibilities," Basso said.

Each year, the Cima Coppi marks the highest point of the race. This year it's the ski resort of Sestriere at 6,677 feet. The 163-mile course, the race's longest, begins in Cuneo and finishes in Pinerolo.

Two days later comes the 38-mile individual time trial along the coastal area known as Cinque Terre, which could end up deciding the race.

In preparing for the Giro, Basso spent an almost unheard of 100 miles on his time-trial bike one day.

"Time trialing is the area I lost the most in when I was (banned)," he said. "You need to race to keep up your time-trialing form."

Leipheimer and Menchov are expected to gain significant time on the likes of Di Luca and Basso in the race against the clock. The stage is highly technical, with several steep downhill sections, and Basso struggles going downhill.

"Everyone is talking about the descents but what you really need are great legs," Basso said. "It's going to be a great day of cycling, a great show. It's going to be a fight against yourself."

With this year's race going in reverse direction from most years, starting in the north and finishing in Rome on May 31, the key late stages are virtually unknown.

Two days after the Cinque Terre stage, the leg that ends in Bologna concludes with a short but steep climb and is undulating from start to finish. The same holds for stage 15 from Forli to Faenza. The following stage ends with a climb to Monte Petrano in the Marche region.

"It's a very long stage with 5,000 meters (yards) of elevation," Basso said of Monte Petrano.

"Strategy is going to play an important role because whoever gets to the last climb with some power left can make a big impact," Basso said.

A day later, there's an even tougher finishing climb to Blockhaus in the earthquake-hit Abruzzo region, and stage 19 scales Mount Vesuvius. The race ends with a nearly nine-mile individual time trial in Rome.

"There are still eight or nine stages where you have to be very attentive," Basso said. "If not, 'Ciao.'"